Little Angel's Home

"I'm so dead..." The older woman said to herself as she rubbed her forehead in annoyance.

"How did it even fall off in the first place, Juliet?" The other lady asked.

"We needed to get it better fitted, the ring place messed up the size. Damnit! Angie, what do I do?"

"We've been looking for hours now, maybe post a sign up and see if anyone returns it."

She scoffed. "Like anyone is going to return a diamond ring." Sighing she shook her head. "Fine, let's do that."

Beside the mailboxes holding a stuffed bear with one eye missing, was a little girl with dark brown hair and hazel eyes, staring at the two adults who had been searching for that ring since they came back from wherever it was they were. She shrugged and walked around the complex, exploring like she did often. A while later she was by the front door when a glint caught her eye. Placing her bear down she climbed under the couch, that was in the main lobby, and pulled out a ring. She eyed is closely before putting it in her pocket in the from of her little dress and went about her day, until she was stopped by the sight of the two woman hanging up a picture.

"You told Andy, right?"

"Of course. He said not to worry about it, if we find it we find it, but I think he's a little angry at me for losing it in the first place."

They walked off and the little girl was about to also, but then she saw the picture. She pushed over a chair and climbed on top of it to get a closer look, then took out the ring from her pocket and saw it was the same one. She eyed the picture carefully and saw the numbers '5B' and made her way into the elevator. She jumped to reach the number '5'.

Juliet sighed as she drank her coffee, Angie was in the bathroom and she was just sitting there, hoping someone would be kind enough to actually bring her back her ring. There was a small knock at the door that broke her out of her thoughts. Before opening she looked out of the peephole and saw no one. She turned to walk away but heard another knock. Still no one. Then another knock so she opened the door to reveal a little girl, who just stared up at her.

"Hello, honey." She looked around and saw she was alone. "Where are your parents, sweetie?"

She didn’t say anything just reached into her little pocket and pulled something out. In her palm was Juliet's ring, making the woman crouch down and take the ring.

"You found my ring? How did you know where I lived?" The little girl pointed to a poster Angie posted on the board outside of her apartment. "You followed the sign?" The child shook her head and held up five fingers. "Oh you saw the apartment number..." She took a good look at the kid and realized she had seen her around the complex before. "Where do you live at, hon?" She held up two fingers. "On the second floor?"

"Hey, Juliet, who's at the door?" Her sister said coming up from behind her. "Oh, there's a kid..."

"She found my ring."

"What?" Juliet showed it to her. "How did she know where to go?"

"She read the signs I guess."

"She looks 3. Is she alone? Where are her parents?"

"Her parents are on the second floor, or so she told me... sorta. And I've seen her around the complex, usually by herself."

"Her parents let her walk around by herself?"

"I guess." She smiled at the child and held out her hand. "How about I take you home?"

The little girl looked at her hand and nodded before taking it and leading her to the elevator, Angie following them.

"How the heck did she reach the buttons?"

"Angie, shush."

Once they reached the second floor Juliet let the child lead her to her apartment, '2C'. She knocked and a women, with bright red hair answered, smoking a cigarette.

She blew the smoke out and nodded at the woman. "Yes?"

"My name is Juliet Simms-"

"From 5B, I know. What are you doing here?"

She bit back a ride reply. "You're daughter was returning something to me that was lost and I thought I'd bring her back home."

The red head finally noticed the child standing there. "What did you lose?"

"My engagement ring had fallen off and I couldn’t find it. I posted some signs and I guess she had found it and gave it back to me."

The woman smiled, it made Juliet shiver, those brown eyes gazing dangerously to the little girl. "Did she now, well, thank you for... bringing her home. Come on, kid, let's get you some lunch."

The child let go of Juliet's hand, Juliet reluctantly released her, and waved goodbye. Once the door closed Angie shivered.

"Did anyone else feel creeped out by her smile?"

Juliet didn’t say anything, just eyed the door. Angie and her took down the pictures, one floor at a time. One the first floor though, as she checked her mail, she saw a stuffed bear, missing one eye beside a chair that was near a poster.

"Well now I see how she saw the apartment number..." She picked up the bear. "Ang, before we get the rest of them, we need to stop off at 2C again."

Angie saw the bear and nodded. Once at the door she knocked and the same woman answered.

"You again?"

"Your daughter dropped this, I was just returning it."

She scoffed. "I've been trying to throw that thing away for months, she somehow always finds it again. Just get rid of it." Juliet didn’t get a chance to reply as the door was practically slammed in her face.

"Well someone's on their rag."

That night, Angie went home and Juliet sat in the living room, football playing in the background as she stared at the beat up bear in front of her. An eye was missing, one of the arms were almost all the way off and it had several holes throughout it.

"Where'd that bear come from?" Andy asked as he came back from taking a shower.

"It was that little girls."

"The one who found your ring? Why don’t you take it to her?"

"I tried but her mother told me to toss it, like she's been doing for the past month."

She was quiet for a moment and Andy wrapped her arms around her shoulders. "What's wrong?"

"Have... Have you ever felt like you should... do something? Like if you don’t do something it just eats away at you?"

He looked at her confused. "What?"

"That woman... when I told her that her daughter returned my ring she smiled and all, but the way she smiled made my heart drop into my stomach. It was a sickening smile and her eyes... she looked like she was beyond pissed... I'm scared she's hurting that little girl, Andy..."

"Maybe she just had a bad day." He kissed her forehead. "I know you want to help, but what of nothings going on?"

"I know... I just have a bad feeling."

That night she went to bed, but didn’t really get much sleep, that worn out teddy bear kept looking at her like something was her fault. She just didn’t know why she was feeling like this.